CIVENG, International Women in Engineering day 2025
Amanda will introduce her work on decarbonisation as a chemical engineer working in the water sector and share some of the excitement of her journey to date – and why she feels so passionately about climate action and the role Engineers can play in bringing us back within Planetary Boundaries.
She will focus on her current role supporting water utilities and regulators responsible for stewarding the urban water cycle – which is responsible for greenhouse gas emissions of similar magnitude as shipping or aviation – and how a multidisciplinary, multi-faced approach is required to find the solutions we need. Much learning, diverse teams and collaborations have supported her work to date which has focused on developing solutions to monitor and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and transition to a circular economy. Drawing on her work in different countries, Amanda will highlight some of the challenges and opportunities in navigating the path to a climate smart future we can be proud to leave future generations.
Speaker bio
Amanda has 23 years’ experience as a professional lead and environmental engineer in consultancy working across the urban water cycle in Australia and Pacific, Europe and the Americas. As a chartered chemical engineer, her technical expertise is in wastewater treatment across the municipal water sector including conventional and nature based treatment solutions. She has experience in the strategic evaluation, design, commissioning and optimsiation of wastewater treatment facilities.
She is recognised globally for her leadership and expertise in greenhouse gas emissions of nitrous oxide and methane from wastewater treatment and in the urgent need for climate action within the sector. She has led projects for DEFRA, the Environment Agency, the United Kingdom Water Industry Research (UKWIR) and continues to support these plus international work by the Water Research Foundation (WRF) and Global Water Research Coalition (GWRC). She has been reviewer and contributor in work within the United Nations, World Bank and UK national inventory on the subject of greenhouse gas emissions from wastewater treatment.
Amanda has enjoyed volunteering throughout her professional career in engineering and social projects from Red Cross kitchens to charity bookshops and has enjoyed being a National Committee member for her professional Institution of Chemical Engineers since 2019. She is active in championing Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths (STEAM), Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in the water sector and is always aspiring to be a better LGBTQIA+ ally. She is proud to volunteer for the International Water Association, National Biofilm Innovation Centre and IChemE as well as her local community owned greengrocer, Dig-In Bruntsfield in Edinburgh.
Amanda was recognised in the Top 50 Women in Engineering in the 2024 WES awards and was proud to invited to deliver a William Pierson Field Lecture at Princeton University, New Jersey in 2025.